Life Isn't A Romantic Comedy
by Demonic Daydreams
Summary: Being teenage Levi is hard. With parents that could give less of a shit, a school that pretty much hates him, and his only real "friends" being about as high on the social food-chain as one can get with straight A's, things really seem to not work out in his favor. That is, until Eren Jaeger comes crashing into his life with as much grace and subtlety as a bull in a china shop.
1. Biggest Douchebag of the Year

Highschool Ereri AU, LevixMute!Eren. Story is better than the summary, i promise.

my first attack on titan fanfiction! glad i have a bit of practice writing characters like Levi. hehe. Hope you enjoy!

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The first time it happened, he thought it was a joke.

Levi heaved a sigh, twisting the combination into his locker, opening and pulling the door open in a few practiced movements, shoving his bag inside. Grabbing the books he needed, he was ready to turn and make his merry way to his History class, and endure an hour of hell with Ms. Mcnair's whiny, grating voice, and her dull green eyes that always focus in on him and give him an venemous stare when no one seems to be looking. So he carves his name into the side of her car once, and apparently he's the bad guy. However, he noticed a small white note that had fallen to the ground, apparently from his locker. Huffing, he leaned down and picked it up, an eyebrow raising and his lip curling when he read the text.

_"I'm failing in math. Mr. Dawson said that you have the best grades, and that you'd be a good tutor. Would you be willing to tutor me?_

_- Eren Jaeger"_

_Jaeger...Jaeger..._He combed through the list of names in his head, trying to think of the people in his math class, and sighed. Of course, it was the silent kid who sat at the very back of the classroom. He never spoke up, never raised his hand, and the teacher never called on him. The only reason Levi had taken any notice of him was because he was often pulled out of class by a counselor, or kept after class to talk with the teacher, and was one of the only kids in their grade that still walked home from school, with his_ sister_ no less.

Sighing, he crumpled the paper up and tossed it into the nearest trash can. He didn't want to deal with some brat a couple days a week, with nothing in return. Levi did not work that way. Snatching a spare pencil from the hallway floor, he slammed his locker shut with his foot, working his way through the crowd and thanking god that he went to school with what appeared to be mutant teenagers, making it easier for his smaller body to duck and weave through the crowd, arriving to class early, and plopping down in the very back, feeling Ms. Mcnair's icy glare the entire time he went to his seat.

He couldn't wait for the old bat to retire...or die.

It takes sending him fifteen notes before he starts to get annoyed. When he opens his locker on the twentieth day, he starts to get pissed. Each note gets increasingly more desperate, the pleas making him curl his lip in disgust. Why notes? Why couldn't he just ask like a normal human being? Did he just not have the balls to walk up and request that he tutor him? The boy never degrades himself, or calls himself lesser, he'll give him that, but god is his begging near pathetic. Almost made him feel bad for turning him down so often. Almost.

Then he read the notes and remembered why he'd said no in the first place, all the guilt immediately vanishing. Please Levi! If I don't pass this year, my Dad will kill me! You don't even have to do a whole lot, just tell me if I'm doing it wrong. Please? Today's note was grinding on the very last of his nerves. Crumpling the paper in his hand, he felt his eye twitch slightly. Tossing it into the garbage can, he slammed his locker door extra hard this time, earning a glare from the principal standing nearby, which he readily returned. After this year, the principal could suck his dick, because he would be out of here.

Stepping out of the school, he heaves a heavy sigh, glad that he's being released for the weekend. Fridays were one of his favorite days of the week. His Mom gets her paycheck so she spends most of her night up at the bar, his Dad stays up in his study, and he's free to sneak out and wander the area. While he hates the usual smack he gets on his back or shoulder from his Mom with the beer bottle when he gets home at 1 A.M, and she's off her ass drunk, it's better than when she was hooked on pills. Pulling his MP3 from his pocket, he jams the buds into his ear, pressing play and letting a slight smirk cross onto his lips when Breaking Benjamin's "Dear Agony" begins to blare on high through the device.

Starting on his walk home, he continued on for a good minute before feeling a sort of...presence behind him. Glancing back, his eyes narrowed, scanning behind him for something, or someone, letting out a huff when he sees nothing.

You're losing it, Levi. Probably turning crazy like Mom. Dear God, I hope not... he thought, shaking his head. Pulling out his MP3, he changed it from the Good Charlotte currently playing, and flipped through the selection, sighing at pretty much everything, until he came across a song that a buddy had put in.

_"Tyr - Hold The Heathen Hammer High."_

The display read. Shrugging, he clicked on it, jamming it into his pocket. The moment the guitar started, he nodded, feeling that he was going to enjoy this song. He continued on his walking, but it wasn't even a minute later before he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he felt that twitch in his eye return. Eren Jaeger stood in front of him, looking down slightly at him.

_If you don't stop looking **down** at me, I will take you down at the knees and see how much you like being looked down at, asswipe._ He thought, rolling his shoulders.

"What the fuck do you want, Jaeger?" he asked, already feeling his temper dwindling down.

Eren's mouth rounded, as if he meant to say "ah!" but no sound came out. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small notepad, tearing off a sheet and handing it to Levi.

_I figured I'd come up and get a straight yes or no answer from you seeing as you've been ignoring my previous notes._

And Levi felt his short temper finally snap. Crumbling the paper, he threw it to the ground. "Why the fuck won't you speak up then? All you've been doing is leaving notes in my locker, like a fucking pansy. Just ask! It's not that goddamn hard, right? These notes have been clogging up my locker, pissing me off, and have made me dread coming into school even more than I do now, because your way of begging is _pathetic._" he practically spat, using every inch of his height to intimidate Eren.

Eren looked startled for a long moment, looking down a moment later. He could see the boy's hands shaking, balled into fists at his side, the notebook dropped on the ground. Was he...crying? Scoffing, he turned on his heel. "Figured you were that weak." Just as he began to walk away, there was a sharp pain in the back of his head as Eren yanked at a bit of his hair. Once it was released, he turned on his heel, reading to punch Eren right in his smug little mouth.

"Mind explaining what the_ fuck_ that was about?" he snarled.

Eren shoved a piece of paper into his face, his hands shaking with anger. Levi snatched the flimsy thing from his hand, and felt his stomach drop to his feet when he read what was written. In large, capital letters, Eren had scrawled out_ "I'M MUTE, ASSHOLE."_

He reread the note once, then twice, and a third time just to make sure that he'd read that right. Once he was sure his eyes weren't deceiving him, he made a note in the back of his head to call Hanji later.

So she could punch him _right_ in the dick.

The anger faded from his features. In fact, everything faded from his features. Including the color of his face. He was white as a sheet, and completely expressionless as he jammed the paper into his pocket. Breathing out heavily from his nostrils, he rubbed at the nape of his neck. "Hand me the notebook?" he muttered, holding a hand out.

Eren carefully placed the book and pen in Levi's hand, and he quickly scribbled down his phone number. Giving it back to Eren, he turned around, starting to walk away again.

"Send me a text with your address later, and we can meet up at your place, okay?"

About to put the buds back in, he felt the tapping at his shoulder again. Looking over at his shoulder, he raised an eyebrow when he glanced down at Eren writing more.

_'Why my place, and not yours? Do you know sign language? And you can't expect me to just invite you over when I know nothing about you!'_ Levi sighed, his shoulders slumping.

"Why not play twenty questions, Jaeger?" he asked, giving only a halfhearted shrug to accompany his dry tone.

Eren looked a tad confused for a moment, but he just waved a hand dismissively.

"To answer your questions..Question number one, bad home life. I'd rather not talk about it, honestly. Not a suitable environment to take people into, let's leave it at that. Question number two, I don't know sign language. Never needed to, before now. And lastly, I will not spend any more time in that building than I have to, being around idiotic assholes in public pisses me off and, like I said, bad home life, which leaves one place. Your place."

Eren's brow furrowed, and his mouth opened and closed like a fish again. Pulling out the notepad, he jotted down a quick thing, and handed the pad back over to Levi.

_'True...Hey, this writing is getting kind of awkward. Do you think we could head back to my place?'_ Levi almost felt like chuckling, but managed to keep a neutral face.

"You were just reluctant about inviting me over, and yet you turn around and invite me over?" Eren went red, and stared down at his feet. While he was looking away, Levi let a small smile slip onto his face. The moment Eren looked back up, it was wiped clean from his face though. There was a long moment of silence between them before Levi piped up.

"Well? Weren't we going to your place?"

As they approached the house, Levi felt his nose wrinkling. Of course, it was in a nice subdivision, in a nice neighborhood. Not quite filthy rich, but they didn't really have to worry about money issues. It was a nice place, he had to admit, at least from the outside. It was just any other subdivision home. A simple porch with a window to the left of the door, white curtains drawn shut, and a simple black steel knocker. Eren glanced back at him as Levi followed behind him, obviously eyeing the building with a sour look. He raised an eyebrow, but Levi just shook his head. Eren obviously wanted to protest, but instead elected to ignore it, knowing that it would save them a bunch of trouble. Turning the knob on the door, he poked a head in, and Levi heard the distinct clicking that was a dog's nails scratching against a hardwood floor. He stood there for a long moment, waiting as Eren slowly managed to squeeze himself through. He waited four minutes, feet shuffling back and forth as he heard shouts from two other residents within the house, mostly directed at what he assumed was the dog.

Finally, the door was opened, Eren gesturing into the house, kicking his shoes off at the door. Levi followed his example, turning down the hand Eren offered to take his backpack. The first thing he had to note was that the house didn't smell like stale beer. But, then again, this was something he should've expected, seeing as it wasn't his house. Still, it was a pleasant alternative from his home. All in all, it was just...normal. Pictures of an infant Eren hung on the walls. The farther he got into the house, the more he noticed the almost subtle inclusion of his sister, Mikasa, into the pictures, which Levi had to note was a tad strange. Why have baby pictures of one child, but not the other? Shrugging, he brushed these thoughts aside as they entered the kitchen. Sitting at the table were two kids, one being Mikasa, who had a large rottweiler laying at her feet, staring up and whining pathetically, and the other being a blonde-hair blue-eyed little nerd, with his head currently facing down at what appeared to be an a College level Calculus book.

Slowly, Mikasa glanced up from the dog, nodding to Eren. "So, Eren explained the situation to me. Are you really willing to tutor him in math?"

"Yes, otherwise I wouldn't have followed the brat all the way here," Levi deadpanned. "Although, from what I see, blondie over there would fit the bill too."

Mikasa let out a huff. "His name's Armin. And, he's taking college courses, so his plate is a bit too full to tutor Eren. Besides, we already tried it, and the house almost wound up on fire. Don't ask, it's a very, very long story."

Levi slowly raised an eyebrow, turning his head over to Eren, who's expression seemed to be a mixture of embarrassment and murderous rage. He tried to sign something, but Mikasa just sighed.

"Eren, I figure I should answer truthfully, and he should have an idea of what he's walking into with you." Turning her head back to Levi, she slowly stood up, grabbing the empty glass that had been resting out of sight near Armin and walking over to the kitchen sink to refill it. "Now, I know you have quite a reputation with the authorities and with the school. I will say now that if you try to pull Eren into any of that, I will be forced to send both of your dumb asses to the hospital. He already gets himself into some bad situations on his own, we don't need anyone encouraging him."

Levi backpedaled a bit, about to get in her face because _how fucking dare she threaten me like that what a bitch_ but there was that small, annoying voice in the back of his head that was telling him to rein it in. He'd already started shit with almost everyone in the school, or had offended them somehow. These were probably the only two kids in the school, besides the few that deigned to come off their high horses and speak with him, that didn't already hate him. Besides, she was just looking out for her little brother. While the idea of a family supporting each other was foreign to him, he could at least understand her reasoning.  
"Yeah, alright..." he muttered, knowing that, if he said anything else, he'd probably wind up pissing her off.

She glanced over, eyebrow raised, and nodded, letting out a hum. "Good. Now, there has to be someone to translate for Eren while you're still learning sign language. Either Armin or I will fill in this role, depending on who happens to be available at the time." Shutting off the tap, she walked back over and set it next to Armin, who nodded and grabbed it, scribbling away on his notebook as he took a long drink.

"When are you available?" she asked, grabbing the magentic calender off of the refridgerator door. Levi glanced over it, eyes widening at how full it was.  
"God damn..." he whispered, glancing at each event carefully written in tidy cursive.

"Oh, this is mostly Eren's Dad's schedule. He usually forgets the appointments he has. Most of our days are actually free, mostly just us lazing around here. However, every other Sunday Eren is required to go into our specialist to have his vocal cords checked out and make sure that the cancer hasn't made a nasty reappearance."  
Levi nodded slowly. "Well, I'm available pretty much every day besides Fridays and weekends."

She nodded, gnawing slightly on her lower lip. Then, glanced up. "Eren! How bad are your grades again?" she asked. Levi watched as he sighed, signing something he couldn't even barely recognize, and then going into the living room and flopping down on the couch. Wincing, she nodded.

"Are you okay with coming three days a week?"

"I don't really have much else better to do..."

"Good. Do Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays work for you?"

"How many times have I said I really don't give a fuck already?"

"Touchy." She muttered, taking the time to neatly write underneath a huge stack of appointments "Eren's Math Tutoring" on the specified days. Then, she stuck the pad back onto the fridge.

Going to flop down into her chair at the table, she glanced back at him. "You can leave now, if you want. But you're welcome to stay for dinner."

Do it, Levi. It'd be the first proper meal you've had in a month, just say yes. It won't be another fucking microwave dinner COME ON.

"Nah, I really have to get back to my parents. Thanks for the offer though." Adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder, he turned and began making his way toward the exit. "See you Monday!" he shouted as he closed the door.

Starting on his usual walk home, his mind berated himself for being stupid enough to turn down that offer.

Looks like dinner tonight is going to be another T.V dinner...he thought solemly, pulling out his MP3 and jamming the earbuds back into his ear, clicking a random playlist and letting it run. The walk to his house was a bit longer than usual, seeing as the subdivision Eren lived in was a little farther from the school than his house, and he got lost a couple times back, but eventually wound back up at the broken down, two-story house. Nobody really lingered around the place. It was well kept, of course. The lawn was always mowed, bushes in the front yard always trimmed, car in the front drive way always clean.

_Too clean._

The white curtains were dingy, however, and stained a deep yellow from the chain-smoker they'd purchased them from, and had tried and failed multiple times to wash them, and they were always pulled closed. A couple of beer bottles were resting on the sill, both standing upright and on their sides. And there was always this...air around the house. Everything seemed like a mask, a layer of film to hide what was really going on behind the door.

Groaning, he felt his heart and stomach drop to his feet. He always hated coming home. Slowly, he dragged his feet to the door, pulling the key from his pocket and unlocking the door. He carefully opened the door, minding that the hinges squeaked when he yanked too hard, and tried to be his quietest as he entered. He set his bag down gently on the floor, turning around and pulling the door shut.

"Levi...You're home _late_...Why is that?"

Even from here, he could smell the alcohol and vomit, and his eyes blew wide.

_Shit._

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	2. Levi Has a Bad Day

Levi was having a day, and that was the only word that he would use to describe what he'd gone through. The day had already started off bad, with him rolling out of bed at five thirty AM, dragging the full-body mirror out of the back of his closet, and seeing that the bruises left by his Mother's hands and beer bottle had gone from the tender pink they'd been when he'd first received them to an almost night sky level of dark blue, mixed with mottled shades of purple. Where his Mother had grabbed his wrists, and held on tight, there were visible hand marks, and he nearly shattered the mirror when he kicked it out of frustration. Of all the places that they had to be, they were at his wrists. How the _fuck _was he going to explain that? He might've been able to pass it by the principal and teachers, but his friends weren't as dense as a brick, and would know immediately what had happened.

_Long sleeves it is, then._ He thought, hurriedly tugging on a white shirt that wasn't stained with blood and a pair of hand-me-down jeans from his father, which hung off his waist and bunched up at his ankles awkwardly. Half-heartedly, he rolled the cuffs, hoping they wouldn't come undone, and bolted down the stairs, pouring out a glass of water and placing two painkillers on the counter. Just as he went to grab a poptart from the box on top of the fridge, he heard his Mother's bedroom door open, and his eyes widened, breath escaping his lungs.

_Fuck breakfast, I need to get out of here. _He thought, his feet moving before he realized they were. Within thirty seconds, his backpack was over his shoulder, and he was out the door, glancing over his shoulder every few seconds, making sure she hadn't followed him out. Once he was about a mile away, he slowed to a walk. After a minute of deliberation, he rerouted his course to Irwin's house, making it there by about six AM. A slightly sluggish Irwin greeted him, still trying to blink the sleep from his eyes.

Once welcomed into the house, Levi groaned, dropping his bag off near the door.

"Sorry about intruding again...Mom just-"

"Another bad night?" Irwin guessed, shuffling into the kitchen to pour them both cups of coffee.

"Yeah. Some asshats bought her extra drinks on Friday and tried to get into her pants, which sent her home raging like a goddamn bull. You can fill in the blanks as to what happened next," he said.

Gratefully, he took the mug from Irwin, fingertips grasping the top tightly as he breathed the scent in deeply. He took a large gulp, despite the tingling feeling it left behind as it burnt his tongue. As he licked at the corner of his lips, he could hear Irwin's faint chuckle.

"Never gonna learn how to hold a mug properly, eh?"

"Choke on a dick," he eloquently replied, only rolling his eyes at the chuckle the comment received.

Despite Levi's insisting that he didn't have to, Irwin tossed him a packet of brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts. After taking a large bite from one, his nose wrinkled.

"Tastes like shit," he muttered.

"Well, it's the closest we can have to a breakfast," the blonde said, eyes glancing down at the pants Levi was wearing, and rolling his eyes.

"Come on."

"What?"

Irwin tugged istently on his arm.

"You need to change pants. You wear those hand-me-downs to school, you're going to bring Bradley's gang onto you, and they'll make your bruises even worse."

Levi winced, knowing the truth in his words, but not wanting to admit it.

"I'll fight them off..."

"...and then start something with the principal, and call your Mom up to the school. You know what happened last time she was called up to the school. Come on."

Irwin tugged again.

Levi winced, aiming a harsh slap at Irwin's arm. The blond let go, watching Levi almost cradle his arm. He could even see the wires connecting in Irwin's head, figuring out what had happened.

"Leave it," he snarled, not wanting to return to that topic of conversation.

If only to keep Irwin's mouth shut, he pulled himself to his feet, going up into Irwin's room. The moment he walked in, a pair of his jeans he'd left over at his place on accident was chucked at his face, and he narrowly avoided them hitting him. Once the pants were changed, Irwin threw the old ones in the trash, saying that he and Levi were going to go out some time that weekend to buy him some actual clothes. The teenager only snorted, shaking his head.

_Like you'll follow up with it..._he thought bitterly.

A half-hour later, they were meeting up with Hanji, Auruo, Petra, Gunter and Erd up at the corner, all of the teenagers coming from separate areas. Hanji, having been waiting at the corner for everyone, noticed Levi walking up with Irwin, and looked at him with a mixture of sadness and pity. To this, Levi flicked her on the nose.

"Don't fucking pity me, four eyes," he said, glaring at her.

She only sighed, a smile plastering itself onto her face.

"That reminds me! We got to dissect rats yesterday!"

Levi visibly cringed.

"Oh, so they've upgraded from slimy-ass frogs to shit-stained rats?" he muttered.

Hanji stuck her tongue out at him, holding her books close to her chest. "They were cleaned! Why do you always hate when I talk about this kind of stuff?"

"Because it's filthy as shit. If you enjoy dicking around with some muddy animals, go ahead, be my guest, but please don't go through every disgusting detail."

Hanji was about to reply, but Petra thankfully arrived, which effectively shut the brunette up. She went to talking with the girl and left Levi alone for the rest of their time waiting. About five minutes after everyone had shown up, the bus had pulled up, and the group took their usual seats in the very far back, Levi getting the single seat, closest to the emergency exit. He watched dully as everyone was picked up, noting the people who didn't board at certain stops, and knew who to anticipate in class. As usual, he had a few kids trying to throw shit at him, ranging from pencils to books. Each time, he caught it, and lobbed it back at them, sometimes accidentally hitting Hanji's head instead.

Once the bus pulled off, the group was forced to split up for their respective classes. In these classes, he was called out by god-knows how many teachers for wearing a hoodie, written up seven times for it, and was assigned an extra paper on the Civil War because of his smart mouth. When he trudged into the cafeteria for lunch, he almost didn't give a shit that he hadn't been able to grab his lunch or any money in his haste to get out of the house. Of course, Irwin and a couple others from the group had pooled what money they'd had left over to get him something to eat, despite his constant insistence that he didn't need anything.

"Levi, your eating habits are worrying us," Petra said, taking another bite from her tuna salad sandwich.

"You've lost ten pounds within the past week," Hanji noted, glancing down at the note she'd written on her arm, before casting her gaze back up to Levi.

Levi only brushed off their concern.

"It's nothing, really. My Mom just hasn't been leaving money clipped to the fridge to buy dinner and lunch food."

While the group knew about Levi's Mother's issues with alcohol, the effect of that, and their financial situation, there wasn't much they could do. They'd suggested reporting it to their parents or authority before, but Levi had threatened to break off all ties with them if they even so much as breathed a word of it. And so, they'd keep their mouths shut. But it got hard, some days.

Before long, the bell was ringing, and they had to move on to their next classes. Due to the conversation at lunch, Levi was in a rather sour mood when he went to History. After having to listen to Ms. Mcnair's passive-aggressive insults for an hour, he nearly sprinted to Math, glad to finally go to a class that he enjoyed. His mood almost immediately lightened upon stepping through the door. He took his usual seat at the front corner, nearest to the door, and waited for the rest of the class to flood through the doors behind him. Methodically, he went through the motions of solving each problem put up on the board, happy that he had the chance to throw himself into something that required no emotion, no complicated thoughts, no crazy friends, abusive mothers or deadbeat fathers...Just going through the motions. Having finished the assignment first out of the class, he got a start in on the homework sheet as well.

Not long after, the school day drew to a close, and each kid flooded out the doors, breaking off to their cars, or friends cars as they passed through the door. Levi, however, walked over to one of the trees in front of the school, keeping an eye out for the messy brown hair, indicating that Eren had gotten out of class. When he spotted him, walking with Mikasa, as usual, he quickly jogged down to catch up with them.

They didn't seem phased by his presence, only smiled and nodded to him.

"Still on for tutoring?" Mikasa asked, eyebrow slightly raising.

Levi only nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets.

The walk to Eren's home was awkward, and the conversation mostly one-sided, seeing as the conversation seemed to be mainly between the siblings. About half way there, Levi decided that he wouldn't really need to hear anything, and pulled out his MP3, jamming the buds into his ears as "Firely" by Breaking Benjamin blared through them. Eventually, he found himself humming along, enjoying the almost painful volume that the song was being played at. It was comforting and familiar, allowing him to just get immersed in the music and block everything out. It was a well needed distraction, especially after the day he'd had.

After the song had ended, he felt Mikasa poking at his shoulder. Raising an eyebrow, he tugged an ear bud out.

"Eren said that he loves the group you're listening to."

"Oh, Breaking Benjamin?"

She nodded.

Levi glanced over at Eren, eyebrows raised in a sort of surprise.

"Didn't take you to be the type to listen to 'em. Interesting..." he said. Before Eren could reply, he shoved the ear bud back in, signaling that he was closing himself off the conversation again.

The rest of the walk was silent.

–-

Levi sighed, his head making a solid thud as it connected with the wooden table. In front of him sat all of the math papers they'd managed to dig from his bag, and the first report card for the year. And, after reading said papers, Levi felt himself slowly beginning to dread these lessons.

Eren sat in the seat to the left of him, flinching rather visibly when the sound rang through the room. Mikasa had the resist the urge to snicker from her spot at his right.

"Please tell me that this is a joke, and that those grades aren't really as bad as they are."

This time, Mikasa did snicker.

"I'm afraid that we aren't lying, Levi," she replied, seeming to enjoy the boy's frustration.

After another deep breath out of his nose, he lifted his head, sifting through the papers that had been laid in front of him.

_This is going to be a challenge..._He thought solemnly, teeth gnawing at the inside of his mouth.

It was a long five minutes before he spoke again.

"You're in Algebra 1, right? Taught by Mr. Abram?"

A nod from Eren.

"Asshat," he muttered under his breath.

Levi knew the teacher all too well, having gotten into a couple spats with him before, to the point that Levi had been removed from his class, despite the school's policy on not moving kids past three weeks into the year. When it came to his teaching methods, they were flat and boring, often relying on the students picking up what he's saying immediately, as well as heavily focusing on book work. Obviously, this method didn't work with Eren.

"Alright Jaeger, we're going to go back to the beginning of the book, and make sure you understand basics. Abram's a shithead and seems to only care about his paycheck and star students, so it's not surprising you're failing. Flip to page 15."

Three and a half hours later, Eren probably had a lump on the back of his head from how many times Levi had smacked him, Mikasa had snorted water out of her nose twice, Levi was completely lost on how all of the silent arguments between Eren and Mikasa, and they had somehow managed to make some progress on where Eren was in math.

"Okay, so you have the basics down and, considering this, you _should_ be able to understand what he's teaching you right now. That's one of the advantages of Mr. Abram's teaching style. It relies heavily on what's in the book, and he grades mostly on how you got the answer, then the actual answer itself. He's been known to mark problems correct if the process was right, but the basic math, like the multiplication and division, was wrong."

Eren nodded, leaning over Levi's shoulder to look at the work that Levi was correcting and checking over. He seemed to be almost fascinated by how Levi's fingers moved while writing notes in, pupils dilated and lips slightly parted.

"Do you mind? You can go jerk off about my hands later, but right now, we're focusing on the math. Unless that gets you off too. In which case, I think you need to see someone."

Eren went bright red, pulling suddenly away and trying to keep his eyes fixed on the table. Mikasa snorted, rolling her eyes.

The conversation stayed relatively focused on math after that, once they could get Eren to actually pull his eyes up from the wood. Trying to get Eren to understand what was going on, however, was harder than shoving a cabbage through a keyhole. Just when he appeared to be understanding the material, he'd do one thing that would prove that he was just bullshitting his way through it.

"How fucking long have you bullshitted your way through math, Jaeger? Really, you're damn near professional at it by now."

All he received in reply was a shrug from the teen, which was enough to make him want to choke the boy.

"You know what, fuck it. This was more progress than I'd expected we'd make, and hopefully I managed to drill some of the information into your dense skull. Otherwise, all the work we got done today was useless, and it'll make the next lesson about twenty times more painful."

Levi slammed the math textbook closed, going to shove it into his bag, reluctant to be leaving so soon. But, he knew full well that he couldn't hang around much longer, seeing as his sign language lessons hadn't been scheduled to start yet.

"Just...Go over the worksheets again, and pay attention to the notes I wrote in. They'll save your brain a ton of work. Also, don't try pulling some of the short cuts that I use. Until you understand the material, just...don't. You'll make things infinitely harder for me and you. Now, if you excuse me, I have shit to do."

Without so much as a goodbye, Levi left, dread pooling in his stomach and weighing him down and making his feet feel like lead.

He really wished they'd offered to let him stay for a little while longer.

(Not like he'd actually have accepted their offer.)

* * *

i am sooooo sorry this chapter took so long! i'm also super duper sorry that it kinda sucked? I didn't mean for that, i swear.

This fic is unbeta'd (because im lazy and impatient) so all mistakes are mine. If you spot any, PLEASE point them out! (especially tense confusion because I often flip flop from past to present)

as always, reviews make my month, so leaving one would be great!

(oh! i've had a couple people say that they may draw fanart/make posts/write for this fic, so if you wish to post some, feel free to put it up on tumblr and tag it as "fic: life isn't a romantic comedy" and i'll definitely look at it! i also post the updates for the fic in this tag!)

my tumblr is nagisa-you-little-shit if you wish to follow me~


	3. Someone Separate Levi and Mikasa

Eren sighed, hearing his alarm clock beeping far too loudly for his comfort next to his head, and felt the urge to throw the thing across the room by the fifth shrill chirp. Just as he was reaching over to grab it, Mikasa opened the door, arms immediately crossing over her chest and a glare forming on her face.

"Eren don't you dare. You cannot destroy another alarm clock."

The boy rolled his eyes, flopping over and pulling one of his pillows over his head.

"Eren you have to go to school."

When Eren flipped her the bird, Mikasa only sighed, rubbing her temple. How did she guess that he'd be difficult today? Of course, she could understand why. The boy was always silent in class, mostly due to his own choices. Eren, the stubborn teenager he was, would never let anyone at school know about him. Getting him to even admit it to Armin was a challenge. Trying to get him to say it around people besides them? Impossible. Just to let them involve Levi was a struggle, with weeks of debate and near-childish protestations from Eren.

Despite the fact that his loneliness is his choice, Mikasa still feels a stab in her heart every time Eren loses the motivation to talk to her or Armin, only giving them the weak reply of "no offense, but I talk to you too much." Sure, he had some friends in the Deaf community, but they lived hours away, and usually only met up on the days they set up at the beginning of the month. At most, there were only about three or four of these a month, due to their community being so spread out.

"You can't skip school again, just because you don't feel up to it. Come on, you're going to keep Armin and I waiting, and you know he gets antsy when we cut it close to being late," she insisted.

Eren huffed from his place under the pillow, alarm clock still ringing it's shrill tone. Moments later, she had it shut off, and the boy braced himself for impact. She pulled the sheets from under him, sending his limp body tumbling to floor. Giving another heavy sigh, he glared up at her as he pulled off his pajama shirt.

"You better hurry, if you want to get breakfast."

She was met with another rude gesture for her efforts.

Well, at least we always know what he's thinking...She thought fleetingly as she made her way downstairs herself.

Upon reaching the bottom, she nearly slipped on the step down from the larger landing step, which curved terribly and was difficult to navigate while wearing socks. She let out a bitter curse. She always tripped up on that step. Heaving a sigh, she directed a glare at the offensive staircase, and strolled into the kitchen, seeing Armin leaning against the counter and munching on what looked like a poptart, although she couldn't be sure, seeing as there was no frosting on it.

"What the hell is ___that_?" she asked, pulling the fridge open and scanning the shelves for something that didn't appear spoiled.

"A pop tart," he replied, after swallowing the large bite he'd had in his mouth.

"No, ___that thing_ is not a poptart," she replied, grabbing the jug of apple juice and taking a sniff, nose wrinkling slightly. "That is an abomination, and offense toward all pop tarts everywhere."

Walking over to the sink, she poured out the last of the apple juice jug, tossing the empty jug into the recycling bin somewhere over by the trash can.

"Hey, no need to be cruel," the blond replied, tongue sticking out slightly, before taking another large bite from his breakfast of choice.

Finally, Mikasa decided to grab the last protein shake from the fridge, which thankfully hadn't gone bad yet. Despite the fact that it was her least favorite flavor, she couldn't really argue at the moment, considering that the last two toaster waffles in the fridge were Eren's. She knew from prior experience that the teenager would ___physically fight her_ for those waffles and, while she could easily kick his ass, she wasn't in the mood to start anything that morning. It took a few minutes, but the brunette finally stumbled his way down the stairs, shirt wrinkled, hair flying in all directions, and look of pure murder in his eyes.

Armin and Mikasa exchanged glances, as if wondering to themselves if they were his friends or parents, and going over to help him get himself in order. By the time they were finished, Eren had a waffle in his mouth, was much closer to presentable, and seemed a bit more content than when he'd come down the stairs.

"Another all-nighter?" Armin asked, taking a small sip from Mikasa's protein shake.

Eren nodded.

'You know how it is, when my sleep schedule is thrown like that,' he signed.

Armin nodded.

"Come on guys, we have to get to school."

Eight hellish hours later, Eren was ready to come home and collapse on the couch. Dropping his backpack down next to the door, he sluggishly kicked off his shoes, and made a beeline for his safe haven: their worn down and squeaky cloth couch. The old thing was battered and bruised, with a huge chunk of fabric and foam missing from the front right leg of it, due to the dog's biting at it. It was stained in all different places, making it look like disgusting tie-dye gone wrong, instead of the beige it originally had been. Even though it was repulsive in nearly every way, Eren greeted it openly, flopping down on his face while the springs gave a loud whine in protest.

___I say fuck it with lessons_, he thought bitterly.

He was by no means in any form of a "good mood." Certainly not anywhere near be able to teach anyone anything. However, he had made a commitment with Levi, and wasn't about to let himself go back on his word. (Most of his reasoning behind this decision was based on whether he wanted the short teen up his asshole for the next week.) When the doorbell rang that day, he slowly slid off of the couch and onto the floor. Mikasa, of course, was already at the door, forcing their rottweiler back with her usual command in German.

"Sitz!" she said in a clipped, terse tone. The dog obeyed immediately, sitting down and allowing Levi to make his way inside without being jumped on.

"Sorry about her, she gets very excited when people visit."

"It's alright. What's the mutt's name?" Levi questioned, eyebrow raising at the dog.

Even though she'd been nipping at his knees since he'd come in for Eren's first math lesson, he only just now thought to ask about her name. She was a gorgeous dog, he had to say, and quite young too. The dog didn't even appear to be around a year old yet, and was obviously not done growing, as it's paws seemed larger than it's head.

"Elfie. Eren's Mom picked the name," she replied, leading him into the kitchen area, and seeing Eren still flopped on the ground.

"Eren, come on," she insisted, prodding at his back with her foot. He only smacked it away. The two continued this for a good long minute, and Levi was ready to leave, before Mikasa finally sighed and rolled her eyes, grabbing the back of Eren's shirt and dragging him up into a sitting position.

"Are you seriously pouting?" she sighed, shaking her head. Eren rolled his eyes, and just barely stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth at her.

___He has quite the expressive face_...Levi thought.

It was odd, but he could almost tell what Eren would've been saying to Mikasa. He guessed that it was mostly due to the fact that Eren was just the kind of person who was so open with his emotions. Even in the few short weeks that he'd been tutoring the brat, he'd gotten a pretty decent idea of how he felt at the start of the lesson, and could almost begin to guess what Eren wanted to say or ask before Mikasa had gotten the words out of her mouth. It was nice, he thought, eliminated so much guesswork.

After a good while, and a lot of silent arguments between Mikasa and Eren, they managed to get his whiny little ass to the table, and sat down. Seeing as Eren was being particularly moody that day, Mikasa went right ahead with explaining.

"Seeing as Eren remembers exactly 2% of how his sign language lessons went, I'll have to help out with the first few lessons, to get him back on track."

Eren made another face that, if he could talk, would've probably been translated into something obscene. Levi snorted. Mikasa was less than amused.

"First off, you need to know what exactly it is that we're teaching you. A common misconception about sign language is that there is one ___universal_ language. That could not be farther from the truth. Just like there is not one universally understood spoken language. There are multiple different forms of sign language, just between the English speaking countries. This isn't counting the many different forms of sign language throughout the world. But, here in the U.S, the two that are mainly used are SEE and ASL. SEE is an acronym for Signing Exact English, and that is when everything, every punctuation mark and suffix is signed. It's controversial within the Deaf community, and personally, our family finds it very drawn out and awkward. So, we'll be teaching you ASL, or American Sign Language.

"Now, as of right now, we are striving for you to be able to understand most of what Eren says, and if you can't understand it, then be able to interpret his fingerspelling of the word. After that is taught, we can see how you're progressing, and see if we can bring Eren's Dad in to thoroughly teach you ASL. He's got his certification for teaching and interpreting ASL, and can teach it better than Eren and I could."

Another nod from the dark-haired teen. He noticed, however, how both of their expressions grew a bit darker at the mention of Eren's father. A gloomy cloud hung over the kitchen table for a long, somber moment. Then, Eren broke it by snapping his fingers in front of Mikasa's face, gesturing for her to get on with it. By the look on Eren's face, he was annoyed at something, but Levi couldn't determine what that was. If he were to be completely honest, he didn't particularly ___want _to know, judging by Eren's expression.

Mikasa cleared her throat before continuing. "One thing I will say before I go on with this, sign language is not just the signs. You're going to need to drag your face from that ugly frog faced stare and actually show some sort of emotion, because sign language is also a lot of facial expression."

___Wow, and just when I thought she was warming up to me_, Levi thought.

Even Eren, in his current half-asleep state, could tell that the temperature in the room had dropped about ten degrees as the two raven haired teens exchanged glares. It was like watching two dogs, challenging each other. Dominance would be won by not breaking eye contact, no matter how intimidating the other was.

Carefully, as if scared to disturb Mikasa like this, he shook her shoulder. This effectively snapped them both out of their trances.

"So, let's begin…"

Three hours later, Levi let out a quiet whoop of relief when Mikasa and Eren finally agreed that they'd made significant progress on their first lesson. By now, he could hear Mikasa's voice reverberating through his skull, teaching him the basics and reprimanding him each time he got something wrong...which happened to be quite a lot. Outside, the crazy winds made the tree branches smack against the windows, and Levi jumped every single time. He hated bad weather. Bad weather made a mess, and messes took time to clean up, after all. The teen would've been happy to continue with his line of thinking, but he was drawn out of it by a shake to his shoulder, and a warm mug of tea being placed in front of him.

"What?" he questioned, eyebrow raised.

Mikasa shrugged. "I was making some for myself, to calm down, and it'd be rude not to make you and Eren one as well. If you don't like it-"

"No, no...It's fine. You really didn't need to," he shrugged, however, and wrapped his hands around the mug.

Levi didn't care much for tea. He never has. Too many good memories associated with it. But, the thick scent of mint, and the warmth in the air made him fight back the beginnings of a smile. The heat that radiated from the scalding drink was also great for his chilled and sore fingers. When he finally managed to drag his eyes up from his drink, he noticed Eren had been rapidly typing something in on his phone. Just as he stopped, Levi's phone pinged.

'___Since you can't understand sign language well enough to understand me yet, and I'd rather not have Mikasa translating everything, I figured this was a lot easier._'

Levi nodded, going to type his reply. To his left, Mikasa snorted.

"You two better not be sexting with me in the room because I swear to god I will pour the pot of water on both of you and leave."

Eren looked horrified, and Levi doubled over, clutching his stomach from laughter.

It took five minutes for Levi to get over his laughter, because Mikasa had begun to laugh along with him, to Eren's ever-growing horror. Each time Levi looked up, the brunette was sitting there and attempting to maintain a disdainful expression, but it was cracking and slipping away at the edges.

That night, Levi opted to stay over. With his Mom nursing her guilt and hangover, the last place he wanted to be was at home. His excuse was that the weather was too bad, and thankfully, neither of them decided to question him. Lying on the couch and staring at the ceiling he thought that maybe, just maybe, these guys weren't going to be all that bad…

* * *

**Author's Notes:** i would like to personally thank my friends Raymond, Emo, and Destiny (a rl friend) for ensuring that this chapter actually wound up getting to you guys!

Due to how the last chapter was done, it actually disrupted the structure that I'd had for pacing this story, and I struggled for weeks with how I should actually go about this chapter.

I have to thank my friend Destiny for actually sitting down with me, listening to what I wanted to happen, drawing up the outline, and figuring out how many chapters this (roughly) will wind up being. intimidation was a bit of a factor as well, because i could be stepping on a LOT of toes with this fic, and the whole daunting task of figuring out how I was gonna do the sign language lessons was terrifying.

which is why the lesson itself in this chapter was skipped - i am trying to develop a basic knowledge of sign language from my previous knowledge of it. which is to say, none. and even with that, i was struggling with grades, so i had to put this off. thank you for being patient with me, and your constant support on this! i promise that the chapters will be a bit faster.

EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS TO KIKI FOR HELPING ME WITH THE SIGN LANGUAGE! as always, leave kudos and comments if you enjoyed, and you can find me on here, or on my blog on tumblr: nagisa-you-little-shit

until next time, my lovelies!


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